The invention provides, in one embodiment, a detector for a miner comprising a gamma sensing element and a light sensing element coupled to the gamma sensing element. According to the embodiment, the detector is mounted on a rotary cutter of a boring-type continuous miner such that the gamma sensing element has a view of a geologic formation being mined. A mining control system is also provided, comprising a miner having at least two rotary cutters and a gamma detector on each of the at least two rotary cutters for receiving gamma emissions from a geologic formation. The mining control system also provides an accelerometer and a rate gyro, wherein the accelerometer and the rate gyro correlate the received gamma emissions with positions of the at least two rotary cutters, and a central module that utilizes the correlated readings to determine whether the cutters should be moved.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
Claim text for this patent isn't available yet.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
July 29, 2004
April 22, 2008
Browse 5M+ US patents with plain-English claim translations and AI-generated analysis.